


game, (re)set, match

by paildramon



Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Adventure Zero Two | Digimon Adventure 02
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Kimeramon, M/M, idk what else to tag bro!, is mentioned, suicide is mentioned but daisuke reset that shit so its ok
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:40:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23813977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paildramon/pseuds/paildramon
Summary: THIS COLLECTION OF ONESHOTS IS INSPIRED BY THE RESET 'VERSE (REMEMBER TO SAVE SERIES) BY IGGYTHEPERSON!“You’re a good actor, Daisuke. But sometimes even the best actors slip up.”
Relationships: Ichijouji Ken/Motomiya Daisuke | Davis Motomiya
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	game, (re)set, match

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Reset and Restart](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11249028) by [Iggytheperson](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iggytheperson/pseuds/Iggytheperson). 



> !This fic probably won't make any sense unless you've read the works it's inspired by!
> 
> So. I read Iggytheperson's fics a while back and they fucked me up in the best way. I keep coming back to them over and over. Anyways, every time I read them I'm inspired to create more in that universe. Iggy, if you're reading this, I hope it does your creation justice even though this is just a collection of a few quick oneshots. 
> 
> Side note: "i'll pay my weight in blood" is NOT abandoned! Updates will come eventually! Sorry they're so slow.

“Sometimes… I have this strange feeling.”

Daisuke shifts to look at his boyfriend. “What is it, Ken?”

“It’s hard to explain.” Ken’s lips are set firmly in a line as he ponders how to continue. “It’s like… you’re going through the motions.”

Daisuke’s tired brain doesn’t process this right away. “Wha?”

“You’re a good actor, Daisuke. But sometimes even the best actors slip up.”

This jolts Daisuke awake.  _ He’s catching on I can’t let him catch on.  _ He’s sure his boyfriend can feel his heart beat rapidly in his own chest as he says, “I don’t understand.” Internally, he sighs. He doesn’t feel like stabbing himself through the heart  _ again  _ today.

Ken hums. “I think you know what I mean. Your PTSD. Has it been acting up lately?”

_ Oh.  _ Ken noticed how hard it’s been for Daisuke to look him in the eye after seeing his bloody, dead body so recently. That brand of cold, empty eyes isn’t easily forgotten. You’d think Daisuke would be used to death by now: a purely preventable inconvenience. It still gets to him, though, for some reason. Maybe it’s human nature.  _ If  _ he could be considered human.

Ken sighs at Daisuke’s silence. “It’s okay, you know. Mine isn’t much better. I hope you feel like you can talk to me about it.”

“Thanks,” Daisuke croaks out. “But I’m okay; I’m just really tired. Goodnight. I love you.”

“Love you too,” Ken replies, seemingly unsatisfied by his reply.

_ Please don’t pry further. _

***

“How many times have I died?”

Such a straightforward question. Except it’s not said like a question -- instead, it’s a casual statement, as if Ken were commenting on the weather.

“What?” Daisuke was completely caught off guard. “Why would you ask something like that?”

“I just want to know.” Ken fiddles with the sheets between his fingers. He looks over at his sleeping Digimon instead of Daisuke.

“That’s not something you should think about,” replies Daisuke. “Instead, you should go to sleep, Ken.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Hm?”

“You have to think about it all the time. Even though you hate talking about it, I can tell when you’ve reset a few times in a day. There’s this fatigue in your whole body. And when something happens to me in another reset, you suddenly get strangely protective of me. Tell me you love me more than usual. There’s this fear in your eyes when you look at me.” Ken looks his boyfriend in the eyes now. Daisuke blinks tiredly, trying to process all the words suddenly being thrown at him at seven in the morning. “It’s not fair that you force yourself to carry this burden alone. Let me carry some of that weight. Please, Daisuke, let me in.”

“Woah, woah. Let my stupid brain have a moment to wake up before I reply to that.”

“You’re not stupid,” Ken says automatically.

Daisuke huffs before sitting up. Ken follows suit. 

“The whole point is to protect you, Ken. Look -- I should have never told you.”

“Don’t say that. I want you to be honest with me. I want to help you any way I can with the cards the world dealt you.”

Daisuke is silent for a few moments, grabbing Ken’s hand and rubbing circles on his skin with his thumb. “Can I tell you something?”

“That’s the point, Daisuke. Of everything I was just saying. I want to listen.”

“Okay. Kimeramon went rogue and killed you -- must’ve been a dozen times?”

“What?”

Daisuke sighs. “Yeah. I tried everything. But no matter if we even showed up at the Digital World that day, you turned up dead. So I ended up having to smash a few saves, go back a few days. I snuck into your base and debugged Kimeramon's code so it wouldn’t, well, kill you. That took a few tries too. I’m not the brightest… y’know, with technology stuff.”

“But… why?”

“What d’ya mean?”

“Why would you go through all that trouble? I was your  _ enemy _ !”

“An enemy with a  _ family _ . And even though you were an evil genius, you still kinda were my idol.” Daisuke shrugs. “A cute idol. Though the glasses and hairdo really needed to go. The outfit was kinda hot though.” He smirks.

Ken shoves him a little. “Oh, stop. We both know it wasn’t.”

Daisuke pouts at him, the mood lightened.

***

Daisuke left to set a spawn point after preparing breakfast. Ken patiently waits at the table where the food cooled. It never takes Daisuke more than five minutes, so why has it already been ten? Right when Ken was about to get up to check, Daisuke emerges through the door. Immediately, Ken knows that this is not the same Daisuke he saw ten minutes prior.

Not knowing what to say, Ken watches as a shell of his boyfriend sits down at the kitchen table. The shell stares down at the food in front of him. “I made this three days ago.”

Ken thinks he’s going to be sick. 

Daisuke looks up at him, smiling wryly. “We’re not going to the park with the other Chosen today. The roads are too icy.”

Ken swallows. He thinks of him and Daisuke and Wormmon and Veemon or any of their friends splitting their heads open on a carseat or suffocating on an airbag or -- “Okay, Dai. Okay.”

“Now let’s have a normal breakfast.”

Ken eats. And despite his boyfriend’s culinary skills, it tastes like sawdust.

***

“I have to tell you something.”

“Hm?”

“Now that you know about my… ability, I think you deserve to know… After you stopped being the Kaiser, you committed suicide. Thirty times, in the span of a week.”

Ken freezes. “What?”

“Yeah. Our first sleepover, if it didn’t happen I’d lose you. It took a few tries to persuade you to let me sleep over. Then six days after that, I had to spend the whole day with you and tire you out with ten rounds of soccer until you stopped offing yourself. Took a bit to figure that one out.”

“That’s…” Ken runs his hand through his hair. “Daisuke, I was terrible to you. I tortured you and your friends, and you still…  _ thirty times _ .”

Daisuke’s shoulders begin to tremble, eyes still trained on the ground. “Your mistakes didn’t mean you deserved to  _ die,  _ Ken.”

Ken opens his arms and Daisuke buries his face in his chest, unfallen tears soaking Ken’s shirt. “I’d do it all over again,” Daisuke says matter-of-factly as Ken wraps his arms around him. “I’d do anything for you.”

Ken finds himself holding back tears of his own. “Dai, you already have. You know, I’d always wondered how you always know the right thing to say.”

Daisuke nods into his chest. “Trial and error.”

Ken feels sick at his boyfriend’s confession, though. Daisuke shouldn't have to pick up after Ken's messes. Especially ones as serious as suicide. “I’m sorry you went through that,” Ken murmurs in Daisuke’s ear. “Thank you for saving me.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope it's clear enough that the first part is before Daisuke told Ken about his powers and the rest are after he told him.
> 
> Comments are appreciated as always.


End file.
